A Bethesda man and former Wesleyan University student pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to distributing the party drug “Molly” at the Connecticut school.
Zachary Kramer, 22, was arrested earlier this year after a February incident at the school in which 11 people overdosed on the synthetic drug, which was later linked to him.
Kramer pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy with the intent to distribute MDMA in U.S. District Court in New Haven. The psychoactive ingredient in Molly, which is also called ecstasy, is MDMA.
Kramer faces 12 to 18 months in prison, but his lawyer, William F. Dow III, is expected to lobby for less time, according to the Hartford Courant. “We’re looking forward to the day of sentencing where we can show the judge how much this young man has progressed since these events have occurred,” Dow said, according to the Connecticut paper. “He’s matured, he’s got better judgment. He understands what occurred and what shouldn’t have occurred.”
Kramer and an alleged co-conspirator, Eric Lonergan, 21, of Rio de Janeiro, operated a small drug-dealing ring at the school, according to a federal indictment filed in May. Lonergan allegedly supplied bulk amounts of Molly to Kramer, who sold the drug in smaller amounts, according to prosecutors.
However, The New York Times reports the drug that caused 11 people to be hospitalized in February, including 10 Wesleyan students, was not Molly, but actually a different controlled substance called AB-Fubinaca. The newspaper reported Lonergan is expected to plead guilty later this month.
The drug also sickened one of Kramer’s friends, Abhimanyu Janamanchi of Rockville, also a former student at the school, whose heart stopped after he took the drug and who was resuscitated by Kramer, according to published reports. Janamanchi recovered fom the incident and was later arrested in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of distributing drugs and possession of marijuana. His next court date in a Connecticut state court is scheduled for February.
